Liveaquaria DD - zoanthids

Oscarmk

Premium Member
I was thinking about getting a couple of zoanthids rocks from Driver's Den, I see there are at any point several rocks ranging from 4-6 inches completely covered in zoanthids, sometimes more than one type, quite frankly I couldn't care less about the rarity of these zoas, I assume they are common since each rock appears to have at least 100-200 polyps and they range from $59-89 in price, the colors look amazing to me. Before I order am I missing somethig obvious that is bad about these zoa rocks?, they seem like really good deals to me, and they are QT too. About the QT what exactly do they do to these zoas?, in particular I am on the fence about adding anything else to my tank, because of the risk of introducing disease or unwanted critters, which brings me to the next question, since these zoas come attached to live rock, how can I dip them, and in what solution?, and can these zoa rocks cause a mini cycle that could kill some fish on my 75g?.

Anyone with experience on ordering zoa rocks from DD, please let me know how it went, or anyone that has added zoa rocks (not frags in plugs), how did you dip them to get rid of pests and with what?. Also can I introduce into the tank after the dip?, do I need a QT tank for this zoa rocks?. I am completely new to corals, and these would be my first corals, have kept saltwater for 3 years now as FOWLR.
 
There is a huge market for "high end" or "designer" zoas. People ask some pretty crazy prices per polyp for these. I personally don't get the hype on most of them. I buy what I think would be something I would like to stare at for hours in my system. They sell big zoa rocks cheap because most of them are fast growers and very abundant in the wild. If you like them and think they're someone you'd enjoy seeing in your system, I say go for it.
As for your concern about introducing pests, a 10-15 minute dip in CoralRx, followed by a tank water rinse will suffice. It's the product that most hobbyists use to dip their new purchases. I wouldn't worry too much about the rock causing a cycle. It will be shipped submerged in water (to keep the zoas alive) so it will still be considered "live".
 
If they are wild zoas they might be shipped with just wet newspaper. I dip all corals in Bayer insecticide. This works a lot better than coralrx. After dipping in that they get a dip in 20x strength flat worm exit then a final dip in interceptor just because it's not worth the bugs.


Sent from pay phone in the airport.
 
@Eckolancer wrote:
If they are wild zoas they might be shipped with just wet newspaper. I dip all corals in Bayer insecticide. This works a lot better than coralrx. After dipping in that they get a dip in 20x strength flat worm exit then a final dip in interceptor just because it's not worth the bugs. Sent from pay phone in the airport. said:
Never heard of anyone using Bayer insecticide before. How long have you been using with success? Any more you can share?
 
I have been using for almost 5 years now. Search here or google there are thousands of posts about it. I use more than most people recommend just because I have had flat worms and red bugs in the past.


Sent from pay phone in the airport.
 
Here is one that is pretty much what I do. http://www.cherrycorals.com/news/coraldips/


Sent from pay phone in the airport.
 
@Eckolancer wrote:
If they are wild zoas they might be shipped with just wet newspaper. I dip all corals in Bayer insecticide. This works a lot better than coralrx. After dipping in that they get a dip in 20x strength flat worm exit then a final dip in interceptor just because it's not worth the bugs. Sent from pay phone in the airport. said:
I looked at that cherry corals article where they dip on bayer, it seems to vary on the concentration they quote quite a bit 2- 10 ml per 4 ounces, what concentration are you using?, also why would you say it works better than coralRx?, because it is safer or because it kills more pests?, do you do 20 times the amount of recommended flat worm exit after?, is interceptor also needed for zoanthids?, also where do you buy it?. It mentions on the cherry coral site that small amounts of Bayer can kill invertebrates, if not rinsed properly, how do you rinse your corals after those dips?


@Mike R wrote:
There is a huge market for "high end" or "designer" zoas. People ask some pretty crazy prices per polyp for these. I personally don't get the hype on most of them. I buy what I think would be something I would like to stare at for hours in my system. They sell big zoa rocks cheap because most of them are fast growers and very abundant in the wild. If you like them and think they're someone you'd enjoy seeing in your system said:
Thanks Mike, I have seen threads of people selling some rare zoas at 50 or 100 per polyp, considering how small they are, I guess I don't understand the hype either. The zoanthids that I see online definitely have nice colors that I would enjoy watching. I am still debating on what dip my corals on, CoralRx seems like the most common one for sure.
 
I fill up a Tupperware with tank water then add enough bayers to make it very milky. It then sits in there for about 10-20mins usually test my water while corals are resting in there and test the water that the corals were shipped in with just to see how far off the alk levels are.
Next there is a cup of clean tank water that they get a quick dip in. From there they go to flat worm exit for about 5-10 mins of swirling around and blowing off any stubborn pest. After that clean water dip.
From there they go into interceptor that I shave off a small piece in a cup of fresh salt water. I leave the corals in there for about an hour before giving corals one last clean water dip and enter my frag rack. Then every 5 days I repeat for 1 month just to make sure any eggs are dead.


Sent from pay phone in the airport.
 
Thanks Eckolancer, I decided to just go with coral RX, hopefully it works out, I will wait 5 days and dip them again just in case.

I bought a zoa/paly rock and 4 heads of candy cane trumpet from DNA today, decided I wanted to take a close look at them and they had the sale going on, I took 6 cups of tank water, and dosed 15 drops of coral rx pro, which is about .37 gallons, it said 30 drops per gallon on the bottle, I dosed slightly more just to make sure, I let them dip for 15 minutes while blasting them with a turkey baster. I didn't see much come out though, a couple of pods and some other smal things came out and died after a while, however a brittle star relatively small at about 3 inches started to come out but never did, it then stopped moving, but after I rinsed the corals twice in tank water, and put them in the tank, it started to come out with in minutes!, I am actually glad it survived since I think mini brittle stars are a great addition, what worries me is that I have been reading that coral rx definitely kills brittle stars, therefore I am wondering If I under dosed coral-rx?, the bottle says expirarion date 10/16 so it is still good.
 
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